Dec. 5, 1996 -- Kula Shaker may be fresh from the U.K., but their mystical pop is already generating a buzz here in the States.

The group takes the psychedelic Indio-mysterioso inclinations of late-60s rock to some new extremes, singing a part of its new single, "Tattva" in Sanskrit.

MTV News caught up with the band in Los Angeles, where the group wrapped up its U.S. tour with a sold out show at the Whiskey.

"Pop music is very flexible," Crispian Mills, the band's frontman and guitarist, said. "One minute you can be singing about having a haircut in a garage, and the next you can be singing about the meaning of absolute truth." Supporting this theory of pop music elasticity, Kula Shaker has formed a hybrid of classic rock and roll, and Eastern music and mantras that is evident in their first video and single, "Tattva." For the band, this eclectic musical blend seems to have both aural and spiritual advantages.

" I went to India in '93," Mills explained. "I'd been interested in it for a long time. As a group we'd been surrounded by this sort of mystical stuff a lot, the Indian thing, and it does sound good as well. It's the music that's got to do the talking. There's no point in me sitting here, and say that 'Oh, we've got a message,' there's no point, it's the music."

Kula Shaker's nods to Eastern philosophy might make it stick out on contemporary radio, but then again, that's the idea. "There is a bit of a spiritual bankruptcy though, in the West, you see," Mills said. "So it's nice to fight against that." Perhaps taking a cue from "Sesame Street," Kula Shaker has turned to the letter K in their quest to bring spirituality to the West. The significance of the letter gives the album its title, and explains its cover art.

"The main thing is that K is a very magical letter," Mills said, "and has always stood for all things magical and invisible, going back in the centuries... like Kittens and Kites. We like Martin Luther King, because he saw the promised land. Kennedy, another hero. And all these people here are linked together by the letter K. And it's up to you, if you want to decode it."

You can decode it for yourselves when Kula Shaker return to the States for more dates in February.